Hungaroring: Race one report

Piquet Masterclass in Budapest
Nelson Piquet Jr has utterly dominated this afternoon's GP2 series race
at the Hungaroring to take a well deserved win from Timo Glock and
Giorgio Pantano. The Brazilian led from pole position and saw P1 next
to...

Piquet Masterclass in Budapest

Nelson Piquet Jr has utterly dominated this afternoon's GP2 series race
at the Hungaroring to take a well deserved win from Timo Glock and
Giorgio Pantano. The Brazilian led from pole position and saw P1 next
to his name for every one of the 42 laps of today's contest, finally
crossing the line more than half a minute in front of Timo. By also
taking the point for fastest lap, Nelson cut the championship gap to
Lewis Hamilton in half as the Briton's nightmare weekend continued with
a failure to score a point despite a gutsy drive from the back of the
grid.

Race Report: At the start Nelson tore off from pole position as second
placed Jose Maria Lopez bogged down and was enveloped by the rest of
the grid. Into Turn 1 Michael Ammermiller held second, but with Josi in
determined mood to get back his lost positions, he stuck to his guns and
the pair touched, pitching the German into a spin and out of the race.
The resulting contact left Josi seventh, while Nelson started pulling
away from his rivals, led by Adam Carroll in second and Gimmi Bruni
third. Giorgio sat fourth with Xandi Negrao on his tail and Ernesto Viso
sixth in front of Josi and the eighth placed Timo.

Lewis meanwhile, tstarting from the back of the grid after spinning out
in qualifying, was making great progress, up to 18 h by the end of the
first lap. Next time round however he was in for his compulsory stop,
aiming to get out in clean air and set a brace of fast laps to pull him
up the order. His plan came undone however as he was handed a drive thru
penalty for speeding in the pitlane. He would spend the rest of the race
fighting through the order, taking scalp after scalp as he searched for
some salvation from his weekend, eventually finishing 10th, just out of
the points.

Nelson meanwhile was pulling out more than a second a lap from his
rivals. When all of their pitstops played out, Timo's iSport team had
done the business once again, pulling him in early, effecting his tyre
change with military precision and allowing him out in clean air. The
German put in quick lap after quick lap, and as those in front of him
came in for their stops, they each emerged with the iSport car in front
of them. Timo now sat second, with Gimmi third and Giorgio fourth. With
a 40 second lead Nelson then took his stop and emerged with his lead in
tact.

And that was that. Other than Gimmi dropping out with broken suspension
sustained in the busy first lap, the order stayed the same, with Nelson
crossing the line with a 30 second advantage over Timo, and Giorgio
looming large in the German's mirrors. Timo's team-mate Ernesto finished
fourth with Negrao a brilliant fifth. Sixth went to Alex Primat after a
measured race from the Frenchman as Adam took sixth after a long pitstop
with Josi on his tail for eighth and Sunday pole. Nelson took the point
for fastest lap and punched the sky, being welcomed back into parc ferme
to receive the plaudits of his team and his famous father.

1st Nelson Piquet Jr - Piquet Sports.1:05:13.884:
I don't know what to
say really. Everything worked perfectly. That's how every driver wants
to do a weekend, and that's how I wish to finish the championship, to
drive like that every time.

2nd Timo Glock - iSport International. +32.795:
I tried to push but my
engineer told me the times Nelson was doing, and I couldn't do the pace.
It's good in the championship maybe we can get third position in the
standings from the weekend.

3rd Giorgio Pantano - P.O. FMS International. +34.019:
You need to make a
very good start here because otherwise it's very difficult to overtake.
If you make a good start there is a chance to finish on the podium for
sure also tomorrow. But we have to see.